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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

TBR welcomes Laura Lee Nutt

TBR: Welcome to TBR, Laura Lee Nutt.
Will you share a little bit about yourself?Laura Lee Nutt: Thank you for having me. I write
fantasy, science fiction, romance, and any combination of the above. Most of
all, I love stories that swim in the depths of character emotions and growth,
have at least a touch of romance, and stick around long after the last page is
read. I adore beautiful writing and anything that explores the heights of human
heroism. I have a fondness for werewolves, the moon, and anything that inspires
wonder.

TBR: Tell us about RED AND THE
WOLF and where it's available.Laura Lee Nutt: Red and the Wolf is a fantasy romance set in 15th
century Germany. It follows the story of Blanchette, Little Red Riding Hood,
years after a werewolf attacked her and her grandmother but left emotional
wounds the years never healed. When a nix, a freshwater German-style merman,
and a hunter of the supernatural threaten her, her village, and her huntsman
rescuer of old, she must face her past and come to terms with her present or
lose everything, including her one chance at healing, love, and happiness.

TBR: Please tantalize us with a
story blurb or excerpt.Laura Lee Nutt:

“You are telling me a simple wolf
attack caused all this nonsense about a talking wolf dressing in women’s
clothes and luring a little girl to his bedside so he could eat her?”

“Says something about how much people
exaggerate, does it not?” Heinrich hitched a toothy smile on his face and
managed to settle his gaze on Kaismann’s hairline.

Kaismann stepped nearer. “Or how much
they will lie to conceal information.”

Heinrich held his ground and stifled
the urge to growl. The wolf shoved against his control. Neither of them enjoyed
being called a liar, even if true. Kaismann proved moment by moment how strong
a threat he could become. Could he push Heinrich past the point of control? The
wolf vibrated at joyous possibilities.

Heinrich settled his hands on
Kaismann’s shoulders and shoved him back a step. He resisted forcing the
inquisitive annoyance all the way to the ground. “You are invading my space.”
He must escape quickly before he did something foolish or let his wolfish
impulses get the better of him. “Excuse me.”

“Some tales say it was no mere wolf
but a werewolf who attacked the girl and her grandmother,” Kaismann called low
and threatening as Heinrich stalked away.

Heinrich stopped. Gripping himself
with fierce control, he looked back. “There are no werewolves, Herr Kaismann. I
am a huntsman. If one actually existed and wandered these woods, I assure you,
I would have seen it, killed it, and reported the fact.”

Kaismann lifted his brows in
disbelief. “Truly?”

“Excuse me. I have work to attend
to.”

Heinrich restrained his pace with
difficulty. The last thing he needed was for Kaismann to accurately guess he
intended to flee his questions and suspicions.

When pine and fir obliterated the
sight of Ulfheim, Heinrich took a steadying breath. Yet Kaismann’s questions
clung to his shoulders with sharp little claws. What had prompted the man to
snare onto the possibility of a werewolf? Heinrich had hoped most people would
find such a concept too farfetched.

At least, Kaismann did not yet
realize there were two werewolves in this part of the Black Forest. One way or
another, his presence and tenacious curiosity would make meeting the
she-werewolf again dangerous.

TBR: What inspired you to write
about the theme?Laura Lee Nutt: When I wrote Red and the Wolf, I did not consciously write to a specific theme.
However, looking back, I suspect my circumstances at the time played a big part
in the themes that came out of the story. At the time, I was sick for two weeks
and stir-crazy. Stuck in bed, I was desperate for a distraction, so I opened up
my laptop and wrote the first draft of this book in eight days. Like
Blanchette, I felt trapped and bleak and yearned for escape. Unlike Blanchette,
I knew my illness would end soon and did not cling to the comforts of staying
hidden from the world.

In
Red and the Wolf, the story is very
much about accepting who we are and that there is goodness inside us, but we
must come to terms with our flaws to reach our greatest potential. I was born
visually impaired, so I have a lot of experience with this concept.

TBR: Are you a plotter or pantser?Laura Lee Nutt: I lean toward the pantser end of
the spectrum. However, shortly before writing Red and the Wolf, I took a plotting class on Write_Workshop, a
Yahoo group Candace Havens started for writers. I employed a lot of the
techniques from the class when writing Red
and the Wolf and got a better book for it. Generally, I try to strike a
balance. My pantser side needs the freedom to explore and create, but
incorporating plotter techniques helps give me a more solid foundation from the
beginning.

TBR: How do you develop your characters?Laura Lee Nutt: I use a combination of methods to
develop characters. Usually, I fill out a character survey or two. I write out
paragraphs on their motivations, goals, pasts, fears, dreams, etc. Then I play
with them for the first few chapters of a book. This is why my first six to
twelve chapters go through a lot more rewrites than my later chapters. In those
first chapters, I get to know my characters and sometimes toss them in
different scenarios or different twists on the same scenario until I get a good
feel for them. But no matter how hard I work at creating and getting to know
them, they never cease to surprise me.

TBR: Do you have a favorite quote
you’d like to share?Laura Lee Nutt: My favorite quote about writing is
from Robin LaFevers. “Just as we must dance as if no one is watching, we must
write as if no one is reading.”

TBR: Which of your characters would
you most/least like to invite to dinner, and why?Laura Lee Nutt: From Red and the Wolf, I would most like to invite Karl Kaismann, the
hunter of the supernatural who strives to execute Blanchette and Heinrich, the
hero and heroine of my book. Of all the character, he is the only one that came
fully out of my own imagination, and as such, he fascinated me. He is both a
villain and an honorable man, and that combination intrigues me.

TBR: While creating your books, what
was one of the most surprising things you learned?Laura Lee Nutt: When writing Red and the Wolf, I researched the old versions of the Little Red
Riding Hood story. To my surprise, in the French version, where I took the name
Blanchette for the heroine of my book, she did not wear a red hood at all, but
a yellow one.

TBR: What's next for you?Laura Lee Nutt: Right now, I’m working on the
sequel to Red and the Wolf. Currently,
it’s titled Gretel and Her Ghost.
Like Red and the Wolf, I took a
well-known fairy tale and extrapolated into the story’s future, asking what
would happen if there had not really been a happily ever after? How would these
characters deal with the logical difficulties they faced from their childhood
fairy tale encounters, and how might they find happiness in the end? In this
case, Gretel is desperate to marry and have a normal life, but Hansel, who
never truly recovered from nearly getting eaten by the witch, sabotages her
every attempt. When a mysterious man comes to town to seek her aid in rescuing
other children trapped in the candy house, she must make some of the hardest
choices in her life, but ones that have the possibility to at least set her
free.

I
also recently finished a novel starring Karl Kaismann, the antagonist from Red and the Wolf. It’s a historical
urban fantasy that I will soon start shopping around among editors and agents.
In this novel, I drew upon the haunting legends of the Lorelei Rock on the
Rhine River in Germany about a beautiful maiden deprived of her true love and a
nixie, a sort of nymph-like creature, who causes ships to crash beneath the
rock’s deadly foot. Karl naturally gets caught up in the legend and must save a
town that despises him, choose between his heart’s desire and the lives of
thousands, and come to terms with an unwanted destiny.

TBR: Who are some of your favorite
authors and books? What are you reading now?Laura Lee Nutt: My all time favorite book is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. It
recaptures my heart each time I read it. I also love Patricia Briggs, Alfred
Lord Tennyson, Jim Butcher, George R.R. Martin, Mercedes Lackey, Jane Austin,
Jessi Gage, who is my critique partner and writes some of my favorite heroes,
and Cecilia Grant. Honestly, this list could go on quite a long time if I let
it. Right now, I’m reading Dreamlander
by K. M. Weiland, and, so far, it is excellent.

TBR: Where can readers find you on
the web?Laura Lee Nutt: Here is my website,
my blog, and you can also find
me on Facebook and Twitter.

TBR: Is there anything you’d like to
ask our readers?Laura Lee Nutt: First, thank you so much for
having me today and to all your readers for stopping by.

Second,
in addition to today’s GIVEAWAY, details below, I’d like to invite you and your readers to participate in the giveaway I’m hosting this month to
celebrate the release of Red and the Wolf. On Monday, April 1, I’ll
announce the winners on my website—no tricks for April Fools Day, I promise.
You will have from 12:00 AM on Monday, March 11, central time, to 11:59 PM on
Sunday, March 31, central time, to gain points. Each point counts as an
additional time you will be entered in the drawing for a number of prizes such
as a beautiful, illustrated edition of Andersen and Grimms’ fairy tales and
Little Red Riding Hood’s basket complete with an assortment of goodies to
brighten anyone’s day, even a grandmother’s whose house has just been burgled
by a werewolf. For more details and how to earn points, visit my website. To earn your first point,
comment on today’s post. (A comment will count for both the March Giveaway and
today’s giveaway on this blog.) What is your favorite romantic local and why?
Mine is a castle. I love castles, and they fit with my favorite time period,
medieval, where there was the ideal of my favorite hero type: strong and
honorable.

TBR: Readers, Laura Lee Nutt will give away an
e-copy of Red and the Wolf to
one lucky commenter. She'll pick a winner on Wednesday,
March 20 and announce the winner here. Be sure to leave your email
address so she can contact you.

About Laura Lee Nutt

In elementary school, Laura Lee Nutt checked out every fairy
tale in the library so often, if she picked something else, it was cause for
curiosity. Even into adulthood, she nurtured her imagination with stories of
fairies, true love, monsters, especially werewolves, and the fantastic, but she
wondered what happened after “happily ever after.”

This curiosity and catching an illness one chill winter day
brought her before a blank computer screen, desperately desiring to write
something new. Heinrich, Blanchette, and Karl swiftly spun the tale you just
read. Laura feverishly typed, barely fast enough to keep up.

Once Red and the Wolf was born, other stories coalesced in
Laura’s mind, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, all
asking the same questions: What might happen if the end of these tales wasn’t
really the end? What were these characters’ lives really like after the
harrowing events of the fairy tale? What if achieving true love and happiness
required something extra? Thus came the idea for this series, Embracing Ever
After, where achieving true love requires something special and happily ever
after isn’t really the end.

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Thanks for the insight into your writing process. I like learning about how the characters came to life.

As for my favorite romance location, I'm a city girl. While isolated locations can be interesting, I like the complications of a bustling area where the hero and heroine don't have the luxury of focusing solely on each other. So I'm really interested in an urban historical fantasy.

Mer, thanks for the comment. When you put the appeal of the city as a romance local like that, it takes on whole new levels of interest. I hadn't ever thought of it that way, but you make a very good argument for the city romance.

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